EU woody biomass and Enviva pellets
- Researchers More than 500 scientists: Burning wood initially emits two to three times more carbon per kilowatt-hour than fossil fuels, and the emissions are not counted under the EU rule. Mongabay
- Standard-setters and registries EU and UK carbon accounting: Biomass has a zero emission factor.
- International bodies IRENA: Defines renewable energy as energy produced sustainably from renewable sources, with bioenergy listed first and no measure of sustainability.
- Communities and civil society WWF Central and Eastern Europe: The revised directive continues to allow the burning of trees for energy. WWF Central and Eastern Europe
- Company or project Confederation of European Forest Owners: Said the worst provisions were avoided in the RED III negotiations, though implementation could be challenging. Confederation of European Forest Owners
In the EU, wood pellets count towards renewable-energy targets, and the UK emissions trading system applies the EU rule that biomass has a zero emission factor. The UK power station Drax received £8.72 billion in subsidy in 2012–2025, and its US pellet supplier Enviva went through bankruptcy in 2024.
Ember, July 2026; £999 million of it in 2025.
Status As of July 2026: Drax received a record £999 million in UK subsidy in 2025; Enviva emerged from bankruptcy in December 2024; wood biomass remains counted as renewable under EU rules.
- Drax — £8.72 billion in UK subsidy since 2012, including £999 million in 2025 Ember
- Enviva and its customers in Japan, the UK and the EU — Long-term pellet supply contracts; about $1.0 billion of debt eliminated in restructuring BusinessWire (Enviva)
- UK electricity bill payers — Fund the subsidy, about £13 per household per year in 2025 Ember
- Residents of Northampton County, North Carolina — Reported dust, noise and health problems from a pellet plant (op-ed account) DeSmog
What happened
EU rules count wood burned for power towards renewable-energy targets. In January 2018 650 to 800 scientists (sources differ) asked the European Parliament to limit renewable forest biomass to residues and waste; Parliament did not accept the change and the second Renewable Energy Directive allowed whole trees to be burned. In February 2021 more than 500 scientists wrote to five world leaders saying that burning wood initially emits two to three times more carbon per kilowatt-hour than fossil fuels and that the emissions are not counted under the EU rule. The third directive (RED III, April 2023) dropped a Parliament proposal to cap primary wood, allowed an exception for cascading use, and banned direct support for certain categories of valuable wood but not tax advantages. The UK emissions trading system uses the EU rule that biomass has a zero emission factor.
Ember reported in July 2026 that the UK power station Drax received a record £999 million in subsidy in 2025, about £13 per household per year, and £8.72 billion since 2012. Drax emitted 14.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2025, more than four times the second-largest source in the UK, the Pembroke gas plant, and burned 7.5 million tonnes of wood, of which more than 99% was imported and 86.7% came from the United States and Canada.
Enviva, a US producer of wood pellets, supplied customers in Japan, the UK and the EU under long-term contracts. Coverage of the February 2021 scientists’ letter cited an estimate that Enviva turned about 60,000 acres (243 km²) of forest in North Carolina into pellets each year, about 2.5 million tonnes. Mongabay reported in April 2024 that Enviva had gone bankrupt, that there were allegations that whole trees were used, and that it had supplied about 15% of Drax’s fuel. Enviva announced its emergence from the restructuring on 6 December 2024; about $1.0 billion of debt was eliminated and $250 million of new capital was added.
In October 2022 the BBC programme Panorama reported that Pinnacle, a pellet producer Drax bought in 2021, held logging licences in areas of British Columbia that include old-growth forest; Drax said it used only sawdust and waste wood, according to NRDC’s summary. In August 2024 the energy regulator Ofgem found that Drax had misreported its 2021–2022 Canadian import data, and Drax agreed to pay £25 million, as reported by Express & Star. The payment equals about 0.29% of the £8.72 billion subsidy received since 2012. Drax’s pellet plant in Gloster, Mississippi, received air-pollution fines of $2.5 million in 2020 and $225,000 in 2024.
In Northampton County, North Carolina, a resident wrote in an op-ed published by DeSmog in December 2021 that a pellet plant had brought dust, noise and health problems to a county that is mostly African American and where one fifth of the population lives below the poverty line.
- 2012Start of the period in which Drax receives £8.72 bn in UK subsidy (to 2025)
- 2018650–800 scientists ask the European Parliament to limit forest biomass to residues and waste; Parliament does not accept
- 2020Gloster, Mississippi pellet plant fined $2.5 m for air pollution; a WWF-US director joins Enviva’s board (June)
- 2021Drax buys Pinnacle, the largest British Columbia pellet producer; 500+ scientists write to five leaders (February); Northampton County op-ed (December)
- 2022BBC Panorama reports on Pinnacle’s logging licences (October)
- 2023RED III adopted (April); the WWF-US director leaves Enviva’s board (November)
- 2024Mongabay reports Enviva’s bankruptcy (April); Ofgem finding and £25 m payment by Drax (August); Gloster fine of $225,000; Enviva emerges from restructuring (6 December)
- 2026Ember reports record 2025 subsidy of £999 m and 14.1 Mt CO₂e emissions (July)
What was said
Where accounts differ
Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.
Burning wood initially emits two to three times more carbon per kilowatt-hour than fossil fuels, and the emissions are not counted under the EU rule.
MongabayBiomass has a zero emission factor.
Defines renewable energy as energy produced sustainably from renewable sources, with bioenergy listed first and no measure of sustainability.
The revised directive continues to allow the burning of trees for energy.
WWF Central and Eastern EuropeSaid the worst provisions were avoided in the RED III negotiations, though implementation could be challenging.
Confederation of European Forest OwnersFound the company misreported 2021–2022 Canadian import data; described as technical in nature with no intent found (this characterisation is not independently verified).
Express & Star (PA)How it looked
Shown
- Pellets made from residuesEnviva and Drax, as summarised in the sources reviewed
- Biomass counted as renewable in official statistics and as a zero emission factor in carbon accountingEU and UK rules · Ember
Recorded
- Ember: Drax received £999 million in subsidy in 2025 and £8.72 billion since 2012; it emitted 14.1 Mt CO₂e in 2025 and burned 7.5 Mt of wood, more than 99% imported and 86.7% from the US and Canada.
- Ofgem found that Drax misreported 2021–2022 Canadian import data; Drax agreed to pay £25 million (August 2024).
- Gloster, Mississippi pellet plant: air-pollution fines of $2.5 million (2020) and $225,000 (2024).
- Mongabay: Enviva went bankrupt in April 2024; allegations that whole trees were used; it had supplied about 15% of Drax’s fuel.
- Enviva emerged from the restructuring in December 2024, with about $1.0 billion of debt eliminated and $250 million of new capital, and with sales based on long-term contracts in Japan, the UK and the EU.
- Jeffrey Ubben, a director of WWF-US, served on Enviva’s board from June 2020 to November 2023.
- David Leuschen, a director of Conservation International, is listed as a past Enviva board member.
- FSC suspended the Vietnamese pellet producer AVP after a false FSC claim.
- The International Renewable Energy Agency defines renewable energy as energy produced “sustainably” from renewable sources and lists bioenergy first; the definition gives no measure of sustainability.
Who gained
Reached nature or the ground
Gained elsewhere
Responses on record
- Drax (October 2022): Said it used only sawdust and waste wood (reported as its response to the BBC Panorama programme; not independently verified). · NRDC
- Drax (August 2024): Agreed to pay £25 million after Ofgem found it had misreported Canadian import data. · Express & Star (PA)
- Ofgem (August 2024): Described the breach as technical in nature and found no intent (reported but not independently verified). · Express & Star (PA)
- Enviva (6 December 2024): Announced its successful emergence from the financial restructuring process. · BusinessWire (Enviva)
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
- 2024-08Settled£25m £25 million (value in millions)Ofgem: Drax biomass import-data reporting breachOfgem (Great Britain energy regulator) · Regulatory · Ofgem → Drax
Ofgem found that Drax misreported its 2021–2022 Canadian import data. Drax agreed to pay £25 million. Express & Star (PA)
- 2020; 2024Claimant won$2.5m $2.5 million (2020) and $225,000 (2024); value in millions for the 2020 fineGloster, Mississippi pellet plant: air-pollution finesMississippi environmental regulator (not named) · Regulatory · Mississippi regulator → Drax pellet plant, Gloster
The plant received air-pollution fines of $2.5 million in 2020 and $225,000 in 2024. Mississippi Today
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
- Disputed Is burning wood pellets for power a renewable, low-carbon source?
- Disputed Do Drax’s pellets come from old-growth forest?
Accounts
- Disputed Was the Drax reporting breach serious?
Record
- Disputed Sources differ on how many scientists signed the January 2018 letter to the European Parliament: 650 to 800.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that Ofgem described the breach as technical in nature and found no intent, and found no evidence that a 70% sustainability threshold had not been met.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: a secondary summary attributes to BBC Panorama a figure of more than 40,000 tonnes of wood from old-growth forest taken by Drax in 2023; the figure and its date are unconfirmed.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that the Gloster plant later won, on appeal, a classification allowing a higher pollution limit.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: Ember’s estimate that Drax’s move to biomass with carbon capture and storage would need about £30 billion in additional subsidy.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that Drax’s executives were not personally prosecuted.
Did the harm stop?
Not stopped. Drax continued to burn wood pellets and receive subsidy in 2025; Enviva emerged from bankruptcy in December 2024 with long-term customer contracts in Japan, the UK and the EU.
Who paid?
UK electricity bill payers funded the Drax subsidy; Drax’s payment of £25 million to settle the Ofgem finding equals about 0.29% of the subsidy received since 2012.
Sources
Company or project
- European forest owners on RED III trilogues: worst provisions avoided, but implementation can be challengingConfederation of European Forest Owners · 2023-03-31
- Enviva announces successful emergence from financial restructuring processBusinessWire (Enviva) · 2024-12-06
Government and regulators
- ExxonMobil 2025 proxy statement (director biographies)ExxonMobil / SEC · 2025
Press and investigations
- Drax to pay £25m penalty for data-reporting breach after wood-pellet probeExpress & Star (PA) · 2024-08-29
- Drax receives another fine for air pollution violations in GlosterMississippi Today · 2024-09-12
- 500 experts call on world’s nations to not burn forests to make energyMongabay · 2021-02-15
- Enviva bankruptcy fallout ripples through biomass industry in US and EUMongabay · 2024-04
Communities and civil society
- UK’s largest emitter Drax reports record emissions in 2025Ember · 2026-07-09
- The newly revised Renewable Energy Directive continues to greenlight burning trees for energyWWF Central and Eastern Europe · 2023-04-10
Connected cases
- Drax biomass subsidies United Kingdom · 2012 Related matter
- Drax Group (Company) — here: UK power station burning wood pellets; there: Operator of the power station
- Enviva (Company) — here: US wood-pellet producer and supplier to Drax; there: Wood-pellet producer; reported supplier of about 15% of Drax's fuel
- APRIL pulp suppliers linked to forest loss and Cerrado eucalyptus growth Brazil · 2010–2024
- Forest Stewardship Council (Standard-setter) — here: Certifier that suspended the pellet producer AVP; there: Certification body whose remedy process for the suppliers is on hold
- British Columbia's 13.2 million hectare old-growth count is challenged Canada · 2020
- Drax Group (Company) — here: UK power station burning wood pellets; there: Biomass plant operator; UK subsidy recipient
- Chikweti forestry plantations (Mozambique) Mozambique · 2007
- Forest Stewardship Council (Standard-setter) — here: Certifier that suspended the pellet producer AVP; there: Certification scheme
- Court of Appeal ruled ScottishPower's Ofgem settlement payments deductible United Kingdom · 2013–2025
- Ofgem (Government) — here: Regulator that found the data-reporting breach; there: energy regulator; counterparty to the settlements
- FSC suspends Vietnamese pellet maker An Viet Phat Energy over false claims Vietnam · 2022–2023
- Forest Stewardship Council (Standard-setter) — here: Certifier that suspended the pellet producer AVP; there: Certifier that suspended AVP
- FSC suspends Vietnamese pellet producer over false certification claims Vietnam · 2022–2023
- Forest Stewardship Council (Standard-setter) — here: Certifier that suspended the pellet producer AVP; there: Certifier that suspended the producer
- Greenpeace leaves the Forest Stewardship Council in 2018 Global · 2018
- Forest Stewardship Council (Standard-setter) — here: Certifier that suspended the pellet producer AVP; there: Certifier that Greenpeace left
- Land sales and logging on Sami reindeer pasture in Sweden, NGO reports Sweden · 2020–2025
- Forest Stewardship Council (Standard-setter) — here: Certifier that suspended the pellet producer AVP; there: certification body whose system was examined in the Earthsight report
- NGO investigation links FSC-certified Ukrainian beech to IKEA; claims not verified Ukraine · date not stated
- Forest Stewardship Council (Standard-setter) — here: Certifier that suspended the pellet producer AVP; there: Certifier named in the unverified account